Cash vs Control: The Battle for Performance Bragging Rights

When human resource managers are deliberating as to what motivates their employees to perform, several ideas arise, including salary and autonomy. This study investigated the relationship between salary and job performance, as well as the relationship between autonomy and job performance, to determine which better predicts employees’ performance. In this article, the author summarized previous empirical studies that examined salary and autonomy as predictors of job performance. Prior to entering the data into the statistical software, the author expected salary to be the better predictor of job performance; however, the results of this study indicate that autonomy is a slightly better predictor of job performance than salary. Guarded with this knowledge, human resource managers will know how to increase their employees’ job performance and what impact the increased performance will have on the organization. Further practical implications of these findings, as well as my recommendations for human resource managers, are discussed.